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UPDATED: Revs fire head coach Jay Heaps

Change is coming for the New England Revolution.

Goal USA is reporting that the Revolution have fired head coach Jay Heaps.

(UPDATE: The Revs confirmed Heaps’ departure on Tuesday morning, while adding that Tom Soehn will take over the reigns as head coach on an interim basis.

“Jay has done a great deal for the club over the years and had considerable achievements. I have great respect for him and wish him well in the next steps of his career,” said Revs General Manager Michael Burns. “This decision has not been taken lightly, however, we need to do better than the results have shown from the last couple of seasons and this season left us convinced we need to go in a different direction.”

“Jay gave the club his all as a player and coach, and we are thankful to him for all his passion and hard work,” added Revs president Brian Bilello. “We will always be grateful for his efforts in bringing us back to both an MLS Cup final and a U.S. Open Cup Final and wish nothing but the best for him moving forward.”)

The Revs are on the outside of the playoff picture for the second year in a row at the moment, and are in a spell where they have lost their last two matches by a combined score of 10-1. They have accrued three red cards in that time, as well.

The Revs are currently eighth in the Eastern Conference, seven points back of a playoff spot.

Heaps took over as Revs coach in 2011 after spending nine years with them as a player. He led the team to the 2014 MLS Cup Final, where they lost to LA Galaxy. He has won 75 games during his time with the club.

Comments

  1. Only so much blame can be put on Jay Heaps. He did the best he could with the cards he has been dealt. New England has not kept pace with the rest of the league in recent years when it comes to club infrastructure. They don’t have the training facilities, stadium, or engaged ownership that the rest of the league has built. Their problems are much deeper than simply replacing the head coach.

    Reply
    • Bingo…. The Krafts dont really care, Bilello and Burns have bungled the whole mess and must also go, Heaps had no chance but has paid the price. The Krafts MUST clean house AND get involved with something not called Pats

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  2. New England/Boston area has such potential to be a vibrant club like Seattle or Atlanta, I wish Kraft and co. get things right and decide to build a stadium near the city center. What a draw that would be for Bostonians. Its difficult just like it would be in and around NYC but the upside is so worth it. I keep hearing things about possibly a new stadium but nothing seems to move forward, its worse than DCUnited it seems. Time to grease some wheels in city and state offices and make things happen. This franchise is in too good a market to be a MLS 1.0 team.
    —–
    That said have any of ya’ll seen Lee Nguyen’s stats this year. I think he’s the only American eligible player in top ten in both assists and goals. Klejestan’s assist numbers are great too. Shame we can’t seem to get them integrated into the nation team regularly, even when they do play well like Klejstan last year. Klestjan also has the most UCL minutes among active players who are under the age of 35, Pulisic may surpass that later this year though.
    ———-
    I really think if we could properly integrate one of these two guys into a 433 with a midfield of Klejstan playing CAM, Bradly rooming box2box, and Williams playing deeper DM it would really look good. I know the conventional fan wisdom is to play Pulisic in the middle to get him on the ball more but he doesn’t play there for club, neither does the 442 diamond with him as winger fit him either, but a 433 or 434 or 4231 fits him better and with CMs who can possess and play one two touch passes with him like Klejstan did in the friendly we could look dangerously good.
    ————–
    My preferred lineup if everyone’s healthy, 433:

    Green————-Wood————–Pulisic

    ———Klejstan————-Bradley———

    ——————–Williams——————–

    FJ———Brooks——–Cameron—–Yedlin

    Reply
      • I’m an unapologetic believer in Green’s talent and once he gets more minutes at league level the rest of the fan base will come around I believe, but I’m willing to stick my neck out and be a little in front on this one.

  3. Don’t settle for Soehn – please launch a coaching search in the off-season! I’d be happier if they dumped Mike Burns too… most of his acquisitions have been busts and the team as a whole is not nearly ambitious enough to keep up in the East. Revs are going to be permanently behind TFC, NYCFC, ATL, MTRL, & NYRB unless we start investing more in the team.

    Also, there needs to be a story written about the Revs road performance. Is it the worst of any team in MLS history? 3 points out of 45.

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  4. The team probably had to make a move, but Heaps is not the problem with the Revs. Their defense and central midfield has gotten progressively weaker since their 2014 MLS Cup appearance. Lee Nguyen is having a solid season but the defense has been suspect from the beginning of the year.

    Reply
    • The Krafts really need to start putting more $$ into the Revs. It’s too bad that Heaps is the lightning rod for some major systemic problems.

      Reply

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